When Religion Screws Your Mind

Yesterday I wrote about the terrible abuse of children by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Today the fallout continued.

Victims of sexual abuse and neglect in Catholic-run schools and orphanages in Ireland swamped counseling services on Thursday after the publication of the harrowing findings of a nine-year investigation.

Details of ritual humiliation, torture and slave labor were splashed across Ireland's newspapers. The Irish Times described the report as "the map of an Irish hell" while the tabloid Irish Daily Mirror's front page simply read "You evil monsters."

And it's all so horrible. Especially this part:

A lawsuit by the Christian Brothers led the commission to drop its original intention to name the abusers and no one will be prosecuted as a result.

But of course the religious abuse of children takes many forms.

Sometimes they screw your body...or drive gay kids to suicide. And sometimes they just screw your MIND.

Or eat it....


Oh. My. Donut. As I've said so many times before, ALL religion is a form of mental illness

If adults want to delude themselves that's OK. But leave the children alone.

Now gimme me a bloody Boston cream pie Jebesus !!!!!! Or pay for it with your money.

Yeah yeah...I know they're not the HOLEY kind.

But I'm really HUNGRY !!!!!!!!!

Stephen Harper and the Big Torpedo

Of all the bad reviews of Stephen Harper's pathetic anti-Ignatieff ads, I think I like this one the BEST.

In the film The Hunt for Red October, the final showdown involves a torpedo fired by an enemy sub that -- through skilful piloting by the good guys -- ultimately locks onto and destroys the vessel that launched it.

Before they armed the warheads and hit the "Fire" button on their latest attack ads, Stephen Harper's Tories might have been wise to sit through a special screening.

But of course they didn't. So the big torpedo pulled a u-turn and flew up Great Das Leader's gaping booty. KABOOM !!!

Instead of fixing a negative, disparaging storyline to the new Liberal leader, the Tories may succeed only in reinforcing a damaging narrative about themselves -- as angry, slightly mean-spirited, defensive folks who believe the way to voters' hearts is to call other people names.

OMG. I mean DIVE DIVE !!!! It doesn't get any better than this. Somebody in the stinky PMO sardine can is going to pay for impaling Captain Nasty on his own petard , torpedo , attack ad.

Because it's cost the Cons an early election.

It almost certainly means the ads have backfired. And they're running like COWARDS.

Which reminds me.... the other night I took aim at Stephen Taylor for trying to defend the creepy cowardly Con ad campaign.

And for running a tacky video of Keyboard Cat playing out Ruby Dhalla.

When EVERYONE knows that the Kat plays for our side.....



Now all I can think of is BAD STUFF HAPPENS.

Golly. I wonder if that's what Stephen Taylor is going to say when Great Very Angry Leader calls him into his office? Or will he blame Steve Janke?

Because Wanky thinks they're...um.... BRILLIANT. Uh Oh. Bend over Great Leader.If you thought the torpedo was painful here comes a heat-seeking missile !!!!

Or another useful idiot. Muahahahaha.

Oh boy.These nasty sleazy Bush/Cheney HarperCons are being played ...or exploded... out of history.

KABOOM.

And they don't even know it....

Catholic Child Abuse Scandal hits Ireland

For years the Catholic Church in Ireland has held that country in an icy grip.

Gay people have been treated like second class citizens. And women even worse.

Ireland’s abortion laws are among the most restrictive in Europe – amongst the most restrictive of all developed nations. Under Irish law a woman can risk life imprisonment for pursuing an elective abortion within the State, unless the pregnancy risks the mother’s life, or she is suicidal as a result of it.

So why am I not surprised by this horror?

The five-volume study concluded that church officials encouraged ritual beatings and consistently shielded their orders' paedophiles from arrest amid a "culture of self-serving secrecy".

It also found that government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.

Just sickened. The poor little children.

Punish every last one of these cruel bully monsters. And every government inspector who looked the other way.

Don't let them get away with it.

Make abortion legal TOMORROW.

Keep these religious perverts away from kids....

Dr Strangelove and the Human Rights Commission

Imagine if the love of your life was dying in a hospital bed. But you weren't allowed to say goodbye. So your lover died alone wondering where you were.

Even though you were just outside the room.

How would you feel for the rest of your life?

Which is why this story haunts me.

“I have this deep sense of failure for not being at Lisa’s bedside when she died,” Ms. Langbehn said. “How I get over that I don’t know, or if I ever do.”

Of course that could never happen to me. Because NOBODY would ever be able to stop Sébastien. And I'd drive a bulldozer through a wall to get to him.

But then I wouldn't have to because in Canada we have a Human Rights Commission that keeps bigots from firing people, or not renting apartments to them, or discriminating in other ways just because of who they are.

And helps keep Canada a civilized country, and women and minorities safe from the haters.

Which is why I was not surprised to see the uber neocon Tom Flanagan calling for it to be scrapped.

...we should remember that the existence of the commissions is itself an abuse. They have little to do with genuine human rights such as freedom of speech and worship, security of the person and ownership of property. They are specialized agencies to enforce anti-discrimination legislation, and issues of prejudice and discrimination are far too complex to be resolved by human-rights sloganeering.

But then he would.














Because this ridiculous Calgary School Strangelove has been trying to turn Canada into a jungle ever since he arrived in Canada from the United States.

And even though when he sneezes, Stephen Harper FARTS, it ain't gonna happen.

Because this is Canada eh? Not Amerika.

Although I'm sure that after this pathetic performance Flanagan WILL get a chance to dip his lips in paint and plant a big kiss on Ezra Levant's Butt of Fame. Because goodness gracious everybody knows.....it's BIG enough for all of them.

As for me ....I'd just like to dedicate this song to Strangelove and all the other right-wing weirdos and dinosaurs who would destroy the Human Rights Commission and turn our beautiful country into a racist, sexist,homophobic jungle.

Call it my salute ...or OUR salute. From the Big Gay Collab.

This time all the way from Paris...



Because sometimes you can argue with the k....k....k....KRAZY doctors and dinosaurs.

Sometimes you need a bulldozer.

And sometimes why BOTHER?

Ethan McNamee The Youngest Gay Activist

The other day I wrote a post about how the Christianist bigots were using children to attack gay marriage.



And I wondered how you could counter that kind of bigotry.

Well it turns out I needn't have worried.

Because nine-year-old Ethan McNamee took care of that.



Of course the Christianists are now in a foaming frenzy screaming "manipulation manipulation !!!!"

The filthy hypocrites.

But after screening the video of his little rally I think he spoke from his heart. So all I've got to say is....OMG I'm feeling so OLD !!!

Ethan is a HERO.

And the kids are alright....

The HarperCon War Room Flames Out

Uh oh. Call the fire brigade or the insane asylum. It looks as if the Con war room is in full meltdown mode.

Their anti-Ignatieff ads are steaming fresh ....out of the toilet. And already the reviews are BRUTAL

And once Stephen Harper realizes how much damage they're doing to the Cons...and how people are laughing at him instead of Ignatieff. Or just shaking their heads in disgust.

He'll be blowing smoke out of his enormous ass...and bellowing "Bring me the head of Stephen Taylor."

Because by the desperate way Taylor defends the indefensible, you'd think he was personally responsible for the worst Con ad campaign since they made fun of Chretien's face.

He just doesn't get it. But then these frat boy war room Cons never do. Because they're born UGLY. It's in their Bush Con genes.

Just checkout these Young Republicans....picketing a Democratic convention during the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic.














And remember that these Harper/Rove attack Cons are cut from the same cloth. They use the same kind of cruel twisted humour...to try to destroy rather than defeat their opponents. Like they destroyed the gentle Stephane Dion because he was too decent to fight back against their ugly ads of personal destruction.

So what are we progressive bloggers going to do? Let them get away with it again? Or give the desperate Cons a taste of their own foul medicine?

The Harper Conservatives are far better in the attack-dog game than the Liberals. In the House of Commons, they never miss an opportunity to pointedly remind the Grits of their own record whenever a criticism is raised.

The Liberals let golden opportunities pass. Every day, they could be painting Mr. Harper as the Prime Minister who shut down Parliament and ran off, tail between his legs, to the Governor-General to beg for survival. They never do.

Actually I can think of many even WORSE things to say about Stephen Harper...because he's such a weird freak. And to prove it I'm working on a new video.

But until it arrives later this week, this gentler version will have to do....



Although I also like this brand new one from A Creative Revolution.

Because mocking him like he mocked Dion feels so damn GOOD. And if attack ads work, as Stephen Taylor insists they do. Well that's a BONUS eh?

Yup. I do believe the Progressive YouTube Brigade is on the march. And these cowardly un-Canadian bully Cons are going to regret playing dirty.

More than they could ever IMAGINE...

Homophobia and a Flag for Michael Causer

Today people in fifty countries marked International Day Against Homophobia.

Which is pretty amazing for an event that began six years ago in Montreal.

And commemorates the day in 1990 when the World Health Organization stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness.

There were all kinds of events like this Pink Day in Singapore.



















The first gay outdoor event EVER in that conservative country.

And this lie-down in Hong Kong...












But the event that most moved me was the one in Liverpool, England. Where for the first time ever, the rainbow flag of freedom flew over City Hall....and over all the police stations in the Merseyside.

To mark Anti-Homophobia Day and remember Michael Causer.

The kid I wrote about here.

But even that flag raising, as moving as it was, didn't lift my spirits as much as this poll.

When children were asked whether they thought being gay was normal, 71 per cent said yes, and 86 per cent said it's like any other sexual orientation.

"In a context in which may of these parents come from countries where homosexuality is oppressed, we have to celebrate the fact that their children find distance from those attitudes and adopt values of their new country."

Which says something really good about those immigrant kids ....and our precious Canadian values.

Yup.The present may be bleak.

So many of my brothers and sisters are brutally oppressed. Bullying and bigotry are still such a huge problem. And instead of being allowed to live our lives in peace we must fight FOREVER.

But they flew the flag for Michael today. Isn't that awesome?

And the future WILL be better...

Being Gay and the Cacophony of Hate

One thing about being gay that no straight person can understand, is how wherever you go you can't get away from the drumbeat of oppression.

Like try to ignore what happened to my brave brothers and sisters in Moscow today.

When it makes me so angry.

Or pretend that I didn't hear about how the Republicans are planning to try to turn gay marriage into a more effective weapon.

Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.

When I did and it makes me want to VOMIT.

Or how I can't block out the hideous sight of Christianist bigots using innocent children against us....



It all adds up to a cacophony of hate that you can't escape.

No matter where you go.

Which is what I think is what vimeo artist Matthew Brown is trying to convey in this video.



Does he succeed? I'm not sure.

But I'm sure proud of my brothers and sisters, for living, loving, and fighting FOREVER.

In a world as bigoted as this one....

The Cons and the Big Black Squirrel

If I was a Stephen Harper Conservative I'd be very very afraid. The Big Black Squirrel is giving them the evil hungry eye.

As they become ever more desperate. And even more NUTTY.

This week, Conservatives fought back.

Against whom I wonder? Surely not the GritGirl? Who hasn't posted a video in more than a MONTH.

And what are we to make of this?

Good week for Conservatives, don’t you think?

No Stephen. I don't. And neither do SOOOOOO many others.

In fact the only way the week could have been WORSE, is if the entire Con caucus had been busted in a hotel room.....handing out envelopes of cash to underage hookers..... as part of their stimulus plan.

Which of course brings me to Taylor's next line:

I hear that Brian Mulroney did pretty well too!

OMG. When does a critical disconnect from reality become fullblown insanity? Somebody please tell Stephen that in the real world...as opposed to the fantasy one he lives in... it's three strikes and you're OUT.

Still yearning for affection like an annoying suitor who cannot accept rejection, he will not let Canadians forget what it was about him that they so disliked when he left politics 16 years ago...

But it gets worse. After a cheap joke carefully designed to hurt both Dhalla and Ignatieff...one no doubt carefully crafted by the crass political thugs in the PMO...we get this:

*rimshot*

That's a rimshot? Or did he mean a rim JOB? And if so whose doing the rimming? Not Jason Kenney I hope. We wouldn't want another senior Con caught with his tongue in the cookie jar. Would we?

When the media pack got there, they found out that two officials, let's call them Kory Teneycke and Dimitri Soudas (as CanWest did), had taken a leave from their jobs. Just a one-day leave, so they could be Conservative partisans and talk to reporters about the ads they were releasing.

Oh boy. Are these Cons sleazy and DESPERATE? And how could Stephen Taylor get EVERYTHING wrong in one post? By suggesting that keyboard cat is a Con.

When everyone knows he's on OUR side. The Conservatives are the ones played out.

And the only animal act these pathetic Con pitbulls can expect at THEIR farewell... is John Baird in heat ... fighting off the rest of the caucus for one last chance to hump Great Loser Leader's leg.

And of course....bien sur.

Straight from Medellin....with envelopes full of cash.

My friend the Colombian chihuaha...



Bye Bye Cons.

They can yap and snap all they like. Or bite themselves in the ass.

But the party is almost over.....

The Bully Harper and my First Attack Ad

There are a lot of reasons to hate Stephen Harper. His failed economic policies that would turn Canada into a neocon jungle. His oil pimp policies that would torch the planet. Or just the fact he hates women so much.

But the main reason I despise him with every bone in my body is that he's such a monstrous, cowardly BULLY. A man who says he likes to see fear in the eyes of others.

A porky political thug who practices the politics of personal destruction with his hideous attack ads. Like the ones that destroyed the career of the gentle Stephane Dion.

So now that he's off to the pigsty again....I thought I'd give him a taste of his own medicine. Just like I did to the bullies at school.

By launching my first attack ad....



OK OK I know I'm no GritGirl.

But the point is if I can do it ANYONE can. So c'mon eh?

If the monster wants to play the politics of personal destruction game....let our leaders stick to the high road.

While the Progressive Alliance Rebel YouTube fleet closes in on the bully Death , Darth Harper Star.

And really lets him have it......